Stardust
by driver picks the music
Summary: AU Charlie sees Bass for the first time in 10 long years. She's done a lot of growing up and he's noticed. So when she turns him down for a date with someone else, will he let that stand in his way, or will he go after what he really wants?
1. Chapter 1

**This story came about after talking with Wildirish about when my grandparents first got together. This is very loosely inspired by their story and I hope you like it.**

**The title is a favorite song of my grandfathers that he always liked to sing to my grandmother, it has no real baring on the story other than that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Revolution or any of it's characters...Although there has been some talk of a David Lyons time share, nothing has really come of that...yet :)**

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Charlie was excited when she heard the knock on the front door; she was having the best weekend. Miles was coming to visit today and she hadn't seen him in a couple of years. There was the occasional phone call and texts, but they mostly stuck to email and Facebook.

And then after spending a day with her uncle, she had a date the very next night. Charlie is a kindergarten teacher and the guy was the much older brother of one of her students. They had flirted for a couple of weeks before he finally asked her out and she was excited because he was nice and really cute and she had a really good feeling the night was going to go well for her.

"Miles!" Charlie cheered as she opened the front door to her parent's house to find her favorite (and only) uncle on the front porch.

"Hey kid, gonna let me in or do I have to wait out here all day?" Miles asked as he hugged Charlie with one arm around her shoulders, the other holding his overnight bag.

Charlie moved aside to let him through, only then noticing the man standing behind him. "Oh, Bass came with me, hope your folks don't mind." Miles said.

Charlie smiled at Miles and shook her head. "I'm sure they'll be fine." She said with a chuckle, knowing they would be happy to see their old friend.

Charlie held the door for both of them as they walked by. Bass stopped long enough to give her a smile. "Hello Charlotte." he said, using her full name like he used to when she was a kid, knowing she hated it. "It's been a long time. It's good to see you." He said.

Charlie nodded, her smile still in place. "Yeah, you too." She managed to get out, finding herself flustered and feeling like she was once again that twelve year old that thought her uncles lifelong friend was the greatest looking man in the world.

Turns out, twelve year old Charlie was not wrong.

…

Bass couldn't believe it. That couldn't be little Charlie Matheson. There was no way. It hadn't been that long had it?

Ten years. It had been ten years since he had spent any time at all around the girl, and back then that's exactly what she had been, a girl. Now it was obvious she was all woman, and a beautiful one at that.

He had seen Ben and Maggie a few times over the years, but the last time he had seen Charlie or Danny either one was right after Charlie's fifteenth birthday.

He tried to reconcile the teenager he had known with the woman that had just shown them in, and he had to shake his head, the pieces just didn't want to fit together.

"You ok man?" Miles asked. "You look like you're trying to do long division in your head again." He joked.

Bass rolled his eyes. "Haha, so funny." He shook his head again. "I guess I was just not expecting Charlie to be all grown up." He said and chuckled. "But I guess we all get older huh?"

Miles nodded and watched his friend as a thought formed. "Yeah," he said. "Ben said she's been working really hard lately too, never seems to leave much time for herself to have some fun."

Bass nodded. "Well maybe we can fix that for her while we're here." He said, knowing how much Miles cared for his niece. Which was the main reason for getting those traitorous thoughts of her out of his head.

Miles nodded. "Yeah, I was just thinking that same thing." He said before opening the door to the guest room where they had just stashed their bags. "Come on, let's find her, see where everyone else is at." He said, walking out and leaving Bass to follow behind, still slightly thrown by the fact that Charlie was all grown up.

"So where are they?" Miles asked Charlie after they had found her in the kitchen.

Charlie offered them each a glass of lemonade. "Dad and Maggie are at the store, they said something about fixing a big home cooked meal because, and I quote _"Miles can't cook to save his life and the women he brings home aren't really the domestic kind."_ So Maggie made a list and took Dad with her." Charlie said and chuckled at the expression on Miles face.

Bass leaned against the counter and laughed. "They've got you pegged pretty good Buddy."

Miles glared at him. "Shut-up." He said. "What about Danny?"

Charlie shrugged. "Not sure, doing something with his girlfriend probably."

Miles nodded and walked over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her another one armed hug. "Well at least you were here to greet me." He said and winked. "I can always count on you kid."

Charlie smiled and glanced at Bass before dropping her head and letting her hair hide her face from him. But not before he saw the flush on her cheeks and he smirked. He couldn't help but wonder if, just maybe, she had been having the same kind of thoughts as him.

…

Miles walked into the family room and glanced around to make sure they were alone.

"Bass." He said getting his attention as he walked over to the couch to sit down.

Looking up from the book he held, Ben had a great collection and Bass always loved to borrow one when he came for a visit, he raised his brows. "Yeah?"

Miles smirked. "So you're kind of into Charlie right?" he asked, catching Bass off guard.

"What?" Bass asked in surprise.

Miles chuckled. "It's ok man, I saw the way you were looking at her, you weren't exactly subtle about it, and I'm pretty sure she's always had a thing for you." He said.

"Really?" Bass asked with interest.

Miles smiled and pointed a finger at him. "I knew it." He said in triumph.

Bass chuckled. "Alright you caught me." He said as he rolled his eyes. "What do you think about me asking her out?"

Miles frowned. "Dude, that's my niece." He said.

"But you just said…" Bass said, confused.

Miles laughed. "Man I'm just joking with you, if you want to ask her out, go for it. Like I said before, she needs to have a little fun." He said with a smirk.

Bass threw one of the throw pillows at Miles and shook his head. "You're a dick." He said.

Miles shrugged. "Yeah well, that's nothing new." He said. "But you asking Charlie out is new, and even though I'm alright with it, as long as you treat her right," he said pointing a finger at his friend. "I'm not too sure how Maggie or Ben will feel about it, so you might not want to make it obvious."

Bass nodded. "Right, so no asking her out at the dinner table then."

Miles chuckled. "Probably not the best idea."

…

"I need you to get to Dad's house right now!" Charlie whispered harshly into the phone.

Danny frowned. "Hello to you too." He said. "What's going on?" he asked, worried that she and Maggie had gotten into an argument. It had been awhile since they had a good fight.

"Miles is here." Charlie said as she shut the door to her old room and sat down on the bed.

Danny still wasn't sure what the big deal was. Charlie had been looking forward to this visit for weeks now. "OK? What's the big deal?" he asked.

Charlie sighed. "He brought Bass with him." She said.

"Oh" Danny said. Now he got it. Charlie had been half in love with Sebastian Monroe since she was just a kid, and one side effect from that was the case of extreme awkwardness she got whenever he was around.

"Alright." Danny said with a chuckle. "I'll be there in just a little bit, Dad and Maggie gonna be home soon?" he asked.

Charlie nodded then remembered he couldn't see her. "Yeah, they should be home any minute now, but I need you." She said and groaned. "I swear, I'm a grown woman, I'm twenty-five years old, and the mere sight of one man throws me back to puberty again." Charlie sighed again. "Just hurry up and get here." She said before hanging up the phone.

"I just have to get through today." Charlie said to herself as she reached for the door knob. "Without making a fool of myself."

…

After dinner Danny walked Charlie to the front door.

"So, you didn't make too much of a fool out of yourself during dinner sis." He said as they stood in the entryway.

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Haha, you're hilarious." She said as she started to open the door. "I better get going, I'll see you guys tomorrow." She said as she stepped out onto the front porch.

Just as she started for the steps, she was stopped when the door opened up once again. "Charlie?"

She paused before turning around to find Bass standing in the open door way, an easy smile on his face. "Hey." She said, hoping the smile on her face looked cooler than she felt in that moment. "What's up?" she asked as she took a step closer to him and away from the steps.

Bass stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and cocked his head to the side slightly, the smile growing a little wider and showing off his dimples that Charlie had always loved to sneak looks at when she was a kid.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow night, with me?" he asked.

Charlie felt her eyes widen. "What?" she said and then felt like slapping herself at that brilliant response.

Bass shrugged, smile still in place as he took his hands out of his pockets. "Well your dad said you've been working a lot lately, and Miles and I thought that maybe you could use a little fun." He said. "So what do you say?"

Charlie chuckled a little at her own stupidity. Of course, her dad and Miles were both in on this. They just wanted her to hang out and have fun, this wasn't about Bass feeling anything for her, this was about Bass doing something nice for his friends niece.

She shook her head once and smiled at him. "That's really nice of you." She said. "But I uh, actually have plans tomorrow night." She said, hoping that the disappointment wasn't evident in her voice as she let him off the hook. "So you can tell my dad and Miles not to worry about me." She said.

Charlie smiled one last time before turning and stepping off of the porch. She was half way down the walk before she turned around. "Goodnight Bass." She said and turned around once again and headed for her car.

Bass just stood there and watched her leave. Not really sure what had just happened. He hadn't expected her to turn him down, especially after Miles said that she had always had a thing for him.

…

He was still on the porch when Miles found him a moment later.

"Dude," Miles said as he shut the door behind him. "what the hell was that?"

Bass looked at his friend and realized that he had left the door open and Miles must have heard them. "She turned me down." He said, still not sure why things happened gone as he had planned.

Miles rolled his eyes. "Yeah that's not surprising after the horrible way you just asked her out. You've picked up plenty of woman, I thought you were actually good at this?" he said.

Bass frowned at him. "What are you talking about? I just asked if she wanted to hang out, what's wrong with that?"

Miles shook his head. "No, you didn't just ask if she wanted to hang out, you made it sound like you were asking because her dad asked you too."

Bass thought back on what he had said and grimaced. Miles was right; he hated it when Miles was right.

"So what do you suggest I do then?" he asked Miles.

Miles shrugged and looked at him like it was obvious. "Ask her again, and don't be an idiot about it this time." He said.

Bass shook his head slightly. "She's already got a date." He said.

Miles smirked. "Since when have you let a girls date stop you from asking her out?"

Bass nodded and smiled. "You make an excellent point there brother."

He would see Charlie tomorrow, and as they say, tomorrow is another day.

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**This will probably be two chapters, maybe three...And then when this is done I'll be back with another story for the Red Camaro Series. :)**

**I hope you liked the start of this and I hope to have the next chapter up sometime this next week.**

**And remember...**

**Reviews make you AWESOME!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Big thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed and favorited and alerted and any combination of those things! You are all awesome thank you so much!**

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The next day, Saturday, Charlie came back to her parent's house to spend the day with Miles, and by extension, Bass. An arrangement that Bass had been looking forward to, thinking he would get a minute alone with her to clear up the mess he had made the night before, and have another chance to ask her out, properly this time.

What he hadn't been counting on was not getting that opportunity. All day it seemed she was making sure that they were never alone. Whenever he walked into the room, she either made a hasty exit or latched onto someone else in conversation so she didn't have to talk to him.

That was alright though, he was willing to wait because, unknowingly, she was giving him a chance to get to know her better; and as the day wore on he was finding that he liked her more and more.

…

Charlie had been looking forward to the day spent with her uncle, but was worried about Bass. He was a nice guy, a genuinely good person, and she knew that if given the chance he would want to either apologize for her family interfering in her personal life or, God forbid, ask her to hang out again in some kind of heroic attempt to save her from a life of boredom. The former would leave her wishing for an early and unexpected sudden death, the latter of which would force her to let him off the hook again while trying to not spontaneously combust with embarrassment at the fact that her father had spread around her lack of social life.

So she had done the only thing she could do. She made sure that Bass never had the chance to speak her alone. But she noticed that that did not stop him from hanging around and taking part in all her conversations.

Danny was here for the day as well and had brought his girlfriend with him. And Nora, an old friend of both Miles and Bass, as well as an old on again off again flame of Miles, lived close by and was here also.

Growing up Charlie had always felt as if she could confide in Nora when Maggie left her feeling like a dumb kid, and she had always cherished that friendship, so when Bass decided to hang around, Charlie made sure that Danny or Nora one was always around so that she didn't run the risk of making a fool out of herself as she always feared where he was concerned.

…

Bass had overheard Charlie telling Nora that her date was going to meet her here, and he knew that his time was almost up. It was now or never, so he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the kitchen before she had a chance to, once again, get away from him.

"I need to talk to you." He said at her raised brows, her silent question as to what he was doing.

Charlie nodded as he let go. She sighed as she watched him rub a hand over the back of his neck as he gathered his words.

"Look, about last night." He said, but she held up a hand, stopping him.

Charlie shook her head and smiled. "It's really ok, I understand, you were just trying to be nice." She said as she took a small step back towards the door. "Thank you for that but don't worry about it, really, it's ok, we're good." She said with another nod of her head.

Bass frowned slightly and shook his head once. "No that's not…" he started to say, but didn't get the chance to finished, because Danny stuck his head into the room.

"Charlie, Shawn's here." He said.

Charlie smiled at her brother and thanked God for the timing. "Thanks, I'll be right there." She said before turning back to Bass. "Thanks again, but I better be going." She said before hurrying out of the room, leaving Bass standing there, once again wondering what in the hell had just happened.

He followed after her and got to the front hall just in time to see her give Miles a kiss on the cheek before walking out the front door with a handsome young man that was obviously named Shawn.

Miles looked over to him and raised his brows in question, but Bass only shook his head and shrugged, before turning to watch Charlie make her way down the front walk with the other man.

Miles watched his friend watch Charlie and wondered, if maybe, Bass was a little more into her than he had let on.

"Hey." Miles said as he shut the front door and drew Bass' attention.

Bass looked at him. "Yeah?"

Miles held out his hands in a "what happened" gesture.

Bass shrugged one shoulder. "I didn't really get a chance to say much of anything. She said thanks for the offer last night, but that she was good and not to worry about it and then the guy show up." He glanced out the small window beside the door and watched the car pull away. "Never got the chance to clear things up."

Miles was silent for a moment before looking around to make sure they were alone and asking, "You really do like her don't you?"

Bass looked at his brother, surprised, and nodded. "Yeah I do." He said. "Is that weird?" he asked with a chuckle.

Miles smirked. "A little bit yeah, but not a bad thing." He said. "I have a question for you though." He said and waited until Bass was really listening. "She's got a life here, a career doing something she really loves and is good at. You have six months left in the Marines, after that, what do you have to offer her?"

Bass shook his head. "Absolutely nothing." He said and then spread his arms out slightly. "Except for me." He said with a smile.

Miles smirked again and nodded. "Since you're being honest…" he said. "I was talking to Nora, getting a little info on this guy." He said, turning serious again. "This is their first date, she met him through one of her kids at school and it's not serious yet." Miles said.

Bass nodded, taking everything he said in. "Alright, so what do you suggest that I do?" he asked, genuinely wanting Miles' advice on the matter.

Miles shrugged and his smirk widened. "I also happen to know where they're going to have dinner at."

…

Charlie smiled as Shawn pulled her chair out for her and then sat down across from her.

"I'm really glad that we finally got to do this." He said as he smiled at her.

Charlie nodded. "Yeah me too." She said, telling her mind to stop wondering to a certain curly haired blue eyed blond she had left at home.

They each placed their orders and had just gotten a glass of wine when he showed up. That blue eye distraction she had thought she left behind.

Charlie had just taken a drink from her glass when she glanced up and saw him walking up to their table. She choked on it a little and in a very lady like fashion, spit it back into the glass. Shawn raised his brows at her. "Are you alright?" he asked and Charlie nodded before turning her head to Bass, who now stood beside their table.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Shawn frowned at him, wondering who he was and why Charlie seemed so flustered to see him.

Bass smiled at them both and grabbed a chair from a nearby empty table and pulled it over and sat down. "Hi." He said as he held out his hand to Shawn. "Bass Monroe." He said as Shawn shook his hand.

"Shawn Evans." He said, still very much confused. He turned back to Charlie and smiled a little uncertainly. "What's going on?" he asked her.

Charlie smiled nervously and shrugged. "I'm not sure." She said before turning back to Bass. "What are you doing here? And how did you know where I was?" she asked.

Bass looked at Shawn. "This will only take a minute." He said turning back to Charlie. "Miles told me." He said. "Look Charlie, last night, I didn't ask you as a favor to anyone, I asked you because I want to spend time with you."

His words caused Charlies eyes to widen in surprise while Shawn frowned. He didn't like the sound of this conversation, never mind the fact that this guy was interrupting their date to have it.

"Really? Why?" Charlie asked. "You don't even know me."

Bass nodded. "Yeah I know, but from the moment you opened the front door yesterday, all I've wanted to do is get to know you more, to find out everything about you." He said.

Charlie was shocked, she didn't know what to say, she had no words, which is something that only seemed to happen around this one man.

"Charlie?" Shawn said, trying to get her attention.

She glanced at him and saw the confused look on his face as he tried to understand just what was happening.

"Charlie." Bass said, drawing her attention back to him.

She looked back and forth between them and couldn't believe that this was actually happening to her, and she can't believe what she's about to do. In fact, she feels incredibly bad about what she's about to do.

"I'm really sorry." She said. "But I don't think this is going to work out."

Shawn watched her stand up and grab her purse from the back on her chair before heading for the door. He turned to Bass when she was out of sight.

"What was that?" he asked the older man.

Bass shrugged. "I think that was us both getting turned down."

Shawn shook his head. "No not that, I mean you, showing up here. What the hell man?" he asked as the waiter came with their food.

Bass waited for the waiter to leave before he stood up and fished his wallet out of his pants pocket and pulled out a couple of bills.

"This was me going after what I wanted." He said and then smirked. "And this is me not giving up." He tossed the bills onto the table. "Listen, I'm really sorry I screwed this up for you, believe me I am, but if there's one thing I know, it's that a woman like Charlotte Matheson is not the kind of woman you just walk away from." He said. "Or in this case, let her walk away from you." He said and then headed for the door, going after Charlie, and leaving Shawn sitting at the table, all alone and still kind of confused.

Shawn looked around and realized that they had attracted an audience. He smiled nervously at a couple of people, before standing up and grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair and leaving the restaurant, ready to put this whole failed evening behind him.

Shawn walked outside and hesitated when he saw Bass heading towards Charlie, who stood on the corner, looking at the phone she held in her hand. Shawn figured that the man wouldn't hurt her, but he was still leery about leaving her alone with him, until he saw the look on Charlie's face, and realized that alone with Bass Monroe was exactly where she wanted to be.

He chuckled quietly to himself and turned to head towards his car, figuring that this night couldn't really get any weirder.

…

"Charlie." Bass said getting her attention from the phone in her hand. "Can we talk please?" he asked as he stood in front of her.

Charlie looked up from her phone and nodded, not taking her eyes from him. "Yeah." She said, they could talk.

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**There will be one more chapter for this, and I will try to have it up by the weekend, but I make no promises. I've been spending as much time as I can here lately with my family because a large chunk of them will be moving away in a little over a week and I don't know when I will get to see them again...so I not going to give a firm date for the next update, but just know that I will try... :)**

**Again, thank you all for reading...and remember...**

**Reviews make you AWESOME!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Last chapter. Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/followed/favorited or any combination of those things. You are all awesome and I love you all!**

**I hope that you enjoy the finale chapter, I had a lot of fun with this story, and you have no idea how much it means to me that you guys have enjoyed it as well. :)**

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**Six Months Later**

Charlie smiled as she sat down in the chair that was pulled out for her. It had been too long since she had been able to go out like this and she was going to enjoy herself.

This was the first time she had been back in this restaurant since the night Bass had interrupted her date with Shawn, and this time she was going to actually finish her meal without interruption. Or so she thought.

"You've got to be kidding me." She said when she saw him walking up to her table a moment after the waiter walked away with their orders.

Danny, her date for the night, looked up and raised his brows in surprise. "What is he doing here?" he asked as Sebastian Monroe stopped beside their table.

Charlie shook her head, her eyes never leaving the man standing beside her. "What are you doing here?" she asked, as she started to stand.

Holding up a hand, Bass stopped her and in a déjà vu moment he grabbed a chair from another table and sat down. He looked at Danny and smiled. "Sorry to interrupt, but this will only take a minute." He said before turning back to Charlie.

Charlie shook her head again, a smile forming on her lips. She couldn't believe he was really here. "How did you know where I was?" she asked.

Bass smiled at her. "Miles told me." He said, in an 'of course' tone of voice.

"Alright, what are you doing here now? You weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow." She asked.

Bass nodded. "I know, but I got an earlier flight and I had to see you." He said. "Six months ago you said I didn't know you, so I've spent every moment that I could making sure to change that. I know you, and you know me, better than anyone else.

"I know that you hate it when I call you Charlotte, and you know that I kind of like it when you call me Sebastian." He said with a smile. "I know who your first crush was." He said and then turned to Danny and smirked. "It was me." He said in a stage whisper.

Charlie laughed and Bass turned back to her. "And you know what I went through after my family died." He said all seriousness again.

He smiled softly at her as he reached out and took her hand. "I know we've spent most of the past six months apart, but I also know that that doesn't matter, because I fell in love with you just the same as if we spent every day together." He said and Charlie nodded her agreement.

"I love you too." She said.

Bass' smile widened. "Last time we were here," he said and then looked around. "Actually we were over there." He said, pointing to a nearby table with a chuckle in his voice. "All I wanted to do was get to know you, and be some miracle you gave me that chance. Now, Charlotte," he said with a smirk that caused her to roll her eyes. "all I want to do is spend every day getting to know you a little bit better." He said.

Danny couldn't believe what he was seeing, but as he watched, his sister smiled, her lips stretching wide as Bass stood from his chair and pulled something from his pocket as he lowered himself to one knee beside her.

"Charlie, you are the love of my life, you're my best friend, and I would love nothing more than for you to become my wife. Charlie, will you marry me?" he asked as he held a ring up for her.

Danny watched, still silent, as Charlie bit her lip and nodded before saying "Yes." As she launched herself out of her chair and into Bass, her arms around his neck.

Charlie pulled back and held out her left hand for him to slip the ring on as the other people around them clapped and cheered. Charlie smiled and shook her head at him. "You're an idiot, you know that?" she said. "You could have waited until I got home."

Bass raised a brow as they both stood up and retook their seats. "You have obviously never thought about asking, you, to marry you before." He said with a chuckle. "Once I got the idea into my head, there was no waiting."

Charlie rolled her eyes at him but smiled. "You're still an idiot." She said. "But you're my idiot." She told him as she grabbed his hand and pulled him closer.

Danny, no longer content to sit quietly, cleared his throat. "I think that I'm going to go ahead and take me leave, let you two have the table." He said as he stood. "Have fun." He said as he winked at his sister before walking away.

Bass looked at the retreating form of his future brother in-law and nodded. "Have I told you that I like your brother?" he asked. "He's got class."

Charlie's response was another roll of her eyes.

Six months ago she had a date with a cute guy she met at work, and she had had the feeling that the night was going to turn out well for her. Now six months later as she looked across the table at the man sitting there, holding the hand with the sparkly new ring on it, she know, without a shadow of a doubt, that she had been right.

* * *

**Remember...**

**Reviews make you AWESOME!**


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